The Puzzle
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: When Nick's wife yells at him for no reason, Nick has to put the pieces together to really figure out what is going on. I will update as soon as possible! Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

**The Puzzle**

Chapter 1

"Hey Jacks I'm going to go workout, would you like to come with me, I'm sure your mom wouldn't mind watching Jasmine for a couple hours." Nick Stokes asked his wife Jackie.

Her response shocked him "I need to go work out with you because I am soooo fat right?" She said.

"No, no, not at all, I just thought it would be nice that's all." Nick said quickly.

"You can go workout by yourself." She snapped angrily at him.

"Honey did I do something, why are you so mad?" Nick asked.

She just gave him a dirty look and marched up the stairs.

Nick left the house, he got into his truck and just sat there. He couldn't believe his wife's outburst, Jackie was hardly ever mad, and the couple very rarely argued, and when Jackie was upset with him she was very good at talking it out. She never spoke to him the way he did just now. Nick racked his brain, he tried to remember if he had forgotten something important. Her birthday-no, their anniversary-no, a special date they had planned-he didn't think so. He decided to just go to the gym and let her cool off.

When he returned home a couple hours later he walked into the house,

"Hon, I'm home" he called.

Jackie came into the living room "Hi, how was your workout, I made spaghetti for dinner, there's a plate for you in the fridge." She said sweetly, giving him a peck on the cheek.

He looked at her as if she had grown another head. "You alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" She asked sounding confused.

"Because earlier you screamed at me like a crazy person." Nick said.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that Nicky, it has just been an extremely stressful day." She said.

Nick thought there was more to her outburst than that but he didn't get to ask her anymore questions because Jasmine began to make noise from upstairs indicating that she had woken up from her nap and so Jackie quickly went upstairs to tend to her.

To Be Continued…..


	2. Chapter 2

**The Puzzle **

**Chapter 2**

A few days later Nick, Jackie and Jasmine were enjoying a quiet evening at home. Nick had forgotten about his wife's outburst. Jasmine was on the floor playing with her toys and Nick was sitting on the couch waiting for Jackie to come join him so they could start a movie they both had been wanting to see. Jackie finally entered the living room.

Nick gave her a quizzical look.

"What?" Jackie asked when she noticed him staring at her.

"Are you feeling alright?" Nick asked.

"Yeah why?" she asked.

"Because, that is the third Popsicle you have eaten tonight." He said. Then he added "The only time you eat popsicles are when you have a sore throat or you have the flu."

"Yeah I feel fine, popsicles just sound good tonight for some reason."

He smiled at her "alright" he said.

She returned the smile, "start the movie" she said.

He did but a few minutes in he remembered his wife's outburst and a surprising thought crossed his mind, he quickly paused the movie and looked at his wife

"Jackie, are you pregnant?" He asked.

She looked shocked "no, why would you think that?" She asked.

"I don't know, the mood swings, the sudden liking of popsicles, it just made sense." He said.

Jackie rolled her eyes "Ok Mr. CSI." She answered.

"Jackie, I'm serious, are you?"

"No Nicky, listen if I were pregnant you'd know about it."

Nick still didn't look convinced.

"Trust me, I'm not, I apologized to you about how I spoke to you the other day, it was an extremely stressful day at work not that that excuses me from taking it out on you, but it doesn't mean I'm pregnant either. And about the popsicles, in my defense, the second and third one, I wanted popcorn, but we don't have any, so I settled on the popsicles. Now can we finish the movie?" She asked.

He smiled at her and hit play on the remote.

The family enjoyed the rest of the evening, and Jackie forgot all about her husband's crazy theory…..until a couple of days later.

To Be Continued


	3. Chapter 3

**The Puzzle**

**Chapter 3**

The following evening Nick had his crime scene kit in one hand and his other hand on the door handle ready to leave for work.

"Nicky, tell Catherine I have a few more recipes for her. Tell her if she wants, I'll make her a copy of them."

"Ok I will, I gotta go or I'll be late, love you." He said before giving her a peck on the lips and opening the door.

"Love you too." She said as she watched him walk out the door and get into his truck.

Ever since the kidnapping the couple made sure that "I love you" was the last thing they said to each other before Nick left for work every night. The night that Nick had been kidnapped Jackie had been asleep and had not woken up when Nick had left for work and so she didn't have a chance to tell him she loved him. Had Nick not survived that night Jackie knew that she would have regretted that for the rest of her life.

After she could no longer see Nick's truck driving down the road Jackie went and checked on Jasmine who was asleep in her crib and then she went and got ready for bed herself.

When Jackie awoke the next morning she was dismayed to discover she was ill, really ill, she spent the better part of the morning with her head hung over the toilet vomiting. Her head was still over the toilet when the doorbell rang. Jackie groaned as she looked at the clock on the bathroom wall, it was only 8:45 in the morning and the last thing she wanted right now was company. She got up and slowly walked to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Catherine standing on the other side of the door. She opened the door.

"Hi Jackie, Nick said you had some recipes that I could have." She said.

Then she noticed that her friend looked pale, and not her usual happy and perky self.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I woke up with the flu." Jackie said.

Then she realized Catherine had not entered the house.

"Come in." She said quickly opening the screen door.

Catherine came in,

"Can I get you anything?" Catherine asked.

"No, I'm alright thank you though." Then she added "Sorry Cath but I haven't gotten around to making coffee yet this morning, but you are more than welcome to make it yourself."

The two women went and sat down at the kitchen table.

"That's alright, I'll just have a glass of water." Catherine said.

Jackie started to get up to get it

"Here let me." Catherine said immediately getting up so her friend wouldn't.

Catherine got two glasses of ice water and returned to the table.

"Thank you" Jackie said gratefully, Catherine just smiled at her.

"Nicky told me to tell you he would be late coming home, he has some more work to do on his new case."

"Oh ok" Jackie said.

Then she remembered the recipes "Sorry Catherine but I haven't gotten around to making the copies of those recipes yet, but if you want you can just take the originals and I will make copies of them later."

Catherine waved her hand in a dismissive manner "don't worry about it." She said.

Jackie smiled and was about to take another drink of her water when another wave of nausea hit her

"Excuse me" she said as she dashed upstairs to the bathroom.

Catherine followed her up the stairs to see if she could help her.

Jackie still had her head in the toilet when she remembered what Nick had said the previous night "_No, I can't be."_ She thought silently to herself. "Catherine, what's the date today?" She asked.

"The 11th." Catherine answered.

"Uh-oh" Jackie mumbled to herself.

Jackie stayed in the bathroom a few more minutes to make sure she was finished vomiting.

"Catherine I hate to ask but would you do me a favor?" She asked after she was sure she no longer going to vomit.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"I have to run an errand, and I don't want to wake Jasmine, I'll only be gone a half hour tops, would you mind staying here and watching her?"

"No not at all" Catherine said with a smile.

"Thank you" Jackie said.

She then went and got dressed.

When she was finished getting ready she told Catherine "Make yourself at home and if Jasmine wakes up there is a jar of baby apple sauce in the fridge, if she gets cranky feed it to her."

"Ok no problem." Catherine said.

Jackie grabbed a plastic bag just in case she got sick in the car.

"I won't be gone long, thanks again Catherine." Jackie said as she rushed out the door.

Jackie drove quickly to the nearest store and bought three home pregnancy tests. When she got back home Jackie laid her purchase on the couch and went into the kitchen. There, Catherine was feeding Jasmine her apple sauce.

"Mama" the baby said happily when she saw her mom.

"Hi sweetheart." Jackie said to Jasmine.

"Sorry about the mess Jackie, I am really out of practice with this." Catherine said.

Jackie looked at Jasmine, the baby's face and her entire bib was covered in apple sauce.

Jackie chuckled "No worries, you should see what happens when Nick feeds her. He gets it all over her, the floor, himself, it is really a mess."

Catherine laughed "I can picture that scene in my head."

It was then Jackie's turn to laugh.

Catherine finished feeding the baby.

"Here, I'll clean her." Jackie said as she got a wet wash cloth to wipe the baby's face with.

"I can do it." Catherine offered.

"It's alright, I got her." Jackie insisted.

"Are you feeling any better?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah, a lot better." Jackie answered.

"That's good, I'm going to head out then, do you need anything before I go?" Catherine asked.

"No thank you" Jackie said.

"Ok, if you need anything give me a call." Catherine said.

"I will, thanks, and thanks again for watching Jasmine, you are a lifesaver" Jackie said with a smile.

"It was no problem, I will see you later." Catherine said.

She waved at Jasmine as she left.

Jackie got Jasmine all cleaned up and took her out of her highchair. A few minutes later Jackie had to use the restroom and so she placed Jasmine in her play pen and took the home pregnancy tests upstairs with her. She took one of the tests, the three minutes it takes for a result seemed like a lifetime. When the three minutes were up she glanced down at it _"that can't be right" _she mumbled as she looked at the two very bright pink lines on the test.

She went back downstairs and took Jasmine out of her playpen, carried her over to the couch and sat down with Jasmine on her lap. She turned on the T.V and started watching one of her favorite shows.

After a while she had to go to the bathroom again. She took another one of the tests, again the three minute wait was excruciating but finally the wait was up _"what the hell is wrong with these tests?"_ she said under her breath.

She took the third and final test a while later, and when it said the word "_pregnant"_ she finally accepted that the tests were probably right. _"The evidence doesn't lie"_ she told herself.

Nick arrived home an hour later and after he took his shoes off, Jackie grabbed his arm.

"We need to talk." She said as she led him to the couch.

He looked across the room and saw Jasmine sitting in her playpen trying desperately to take her shoes off.

Nick laughed "I think she wants those off, I should go take them off of her."

"Yeah in a minute, Nick listen, I have to talk to you." Jackie said.

"We could talk, or we could do something else." Nick said as he leaned over and gave her a passionate kiss.

Jackie pulled away "We apparently did _that_ already." She mumbled.

"Huh?" Nick asked confused.

"Nick you were right." She said.

"Honey, I'm always right, you should know that by now." Nick said with a smirk.

Jackie rolled her eyes.

"But what is it exactly that I was right about this time?" Nick asked.

"You were right, I am pregnant." An ear to ear grin spread across his handsome face.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes, I took three tests, they all came back positive." She said.

"Honey that's wonderful" He said getting up off of the couch and pulling her up with him.

He gently spun her around.

"Whoa easy Nicky, don't spin me too fast, I don't want to get sick again."

"You were sick?" Nick asked as he immediately stopped spinning her, concern clouded his pretty brown eyes.

"Yeah, this morning I was really sick, I thought it was the flu, but I guess it was morning sickness instead. That is what led me to believe I might be pregnant."

Nick nodded in understanding.

He wrapped her in a warm embrace, "So what's our next step?" Nick asked.

"Well I need to make an appointment with my doctor just to confirm it, and to make sure everything looks ok so far." Jackie said.

Nick continued to hold her, after a few minutes Nick gave her a smirk.

"What?" Jackie asked suspiciously.

"Does this mean I can take the mothers' day present back I bought you since it looks like I gave you an even better gift?"

"There is no way I am letting you take back the earrings you bought me, nice try though." Jackie said.

Nick laughed "I thought you might say that." He said.

Jackie really did love the earrings Nick had bought for her, the stones in the earrings were Jasmine's birthstone, which meant a lot to Jackie, because without Jasmine, mothers day wouldn't mean much to her.

The couple stayed embraced in each others arms for several minutes, just staring happily into each others eyes, until Jasmine started screaming, it was more of an _angry_ scream as opposed to an _I'm hurt_ scream. Nick and Jackie quickly looked at their little girl, she was still fighting with her shoes, and apparently losing the battle. The couple laughed,

"You take her shoes off, and I'll go call my doctor." Jackie said as she gave her husband one last kiss and then wandered into the kitchen to make the phone call.

When the receptionist answered Jackie said "yes I would like to make an appointment with Dr. Johnson please."

"Ok and when would you like the appointment?" the friendly sounding woman asked.

"As soon as possible, preferably tomorrow." Jackie said.

"Ok let me check the availability." The woman said.

She put Jackie on hold for a minute while she looked. "The only appointment time Dr. Johnson has available tomorrow is at 8 in the morning will that work?" The woman asked when she came back on the line.

"Could you hold for a minute please?" Jackie asked.

"Sure no problem" the lady said.

Then Jackie said "Nick, come in here for a minute please."

Nick appeared in the kitchen with Jasmine in his arms.

"The only time I can get in tomorrow is at 8 in the morning and you won't be off of work yet, we'll have to wait until the day after tomorrow." Jackie explained.

"No, take the one tomorrow." Nick said.

"But you won't be off yet, and I want you with me for this." Jackie insisted.

"I'll be there; I wouldn't miss that for the world"

Jackie smiled at him

"I'll take the 8 o'clock one tomorrow." Jackie told the woman.

"Ok we'll see you tomorrow at 8 then." The woman said.

"Thank you very much, goodbye." Jackie said and then she hung up.

"It's all set." Jackie told Nick.

"Ok, good" He said with a smile.

The rest of the day was pretty typical, they watched some TV, and played with Jasmine. In the evening Nick gave Jasmine her bath while Jackie made dinner.

While sitting at the table for dinner Jackie said "Nick, lets keep this suspected pregnancy a secret until we know for sure that I am actually pregnant and until we know everything is ok."

"I think that's a good idea, although I might have to tell Catherine what's going on if I want to leave early tomorrow to go to the appointment."

"That's fine, you can tell her, but just ask her to not say anything to anyone." Jackie said.

"Alright I will" Nick said.

After dinner Jackie read Jasmine a bedtime story and put her to bed and then the couple curled up on the couch together until it was time for Nick to get ready for work.

"Love you." He said giving her a kiss.

"Love you too" She said as he walked out the door.

When Nick got to the lab he walked straight to Catherine's office. He knocked on the door and Catherine looked up

"Come in Nicky" she said.

He entered her office.

"Catherine would it be alright if I left a little early today, Jackie has a doctor appointment in the morning and I want to go with her."

"Is she still not feeling well?" Catherine asked.

Nick grinned "Don't tell anyone but there's a good possibility that she's pregnant."

"Congratulations Nicky" Catherine said with a warm smile spreading across her face.

"Thank you" He said returning the smile.

"Oh and of course you can get off early" She added remembering his original question.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He said.

He started to walk towards the door so she stood up and walked over and gave him a hug.

"Once again, congratulations" She said.

"Congratulations for what?" Greg Sanders asked appearing in the doorway.

Catherine and Nick looked at each other, luckily Catherine was quick on her feet

"Uh, Nick just solved a case."

"Which case?" Greg asked genuinely interested.

"The Hinkle case, it's a ten year old murder case, I just caught a break with DNA and it solved the case." Nick said.

"I've never heard of that case" Greg said.

"Well you really need to pay more attention around here Greggo" Nick said.

"Yeah I guess so." Greg said shaking his head. Then he added "Congrats on solving it though. You want to grab a beer after shift to celebrate?" He asked.

"I can't today, but rein check?" Nick asked.

"Sure" Greg answered. Then he said "well I've got work to do, see you guys later."

He then turned and started off down the hallway.

Catherine looked at Nick "You're good." Catherine said when Greg was out of earshot.

"Thanks" Nick said with a grin.

"And obviously lying isn't the only thing you're good at." Catherine said with a smirk on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

Nick laughed as a small blush came across his face "Thanks for everything Catherine." he said.

"No problem Nicky, good luck and let me know how things go." Catherine said.

"Thanks, I will" Nick said before leaving the office.

He left the lab at 6:30 in the morning and headed home. When he arrived home he set his crime scene kit on the floor.

"Jacks I'm home" he called.

"Up here Nicky" Jackie called.

He found her in the bathroom with her head hung over the toilet.

"You ok?" He asked walking into the bathroom and placing a comforting hand on her back.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I feel much better than yesterday." She said.

"Your head is in a toilet, how is that better than yesterday?" he asked.

"Yeah but I have only thrown up twice, trust me it is a big improvement." She said.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"Nope, just let me stay in here for a few minutes." She said.

"Alright if you don't need anything I will go and get Jasmine ready." Nick said.

"She isn't here, my mom came and got her, I called her and said I was sick so she came over to get her so I wouldn't have to watch her. The only problem was I had a hard time convincing her to leave, she wanted to stay here and watch Jasmine so she could take care of me too, the only reason she left was because I convinced her I could rest easier with Jasmine out of the house because it would be a lot quieter."

"Did you tell her where we're going?" Nick asked.

"No" Jackie answered.

"I told Catherine, I couldn't think of another reason to explain why I needed to leave early." He said.

"That's ok, Cath can keep a secret." Jackie said.

"Yeah she won't say anything" Nick agreed.

He glanced at his watch. "Honey we better go, it's a quarter after seven." He said.

"Ok, I just have to brush my teeth." Jackie said.

Nick helped her get up off the floor. Jackie brushed her teeth and then they were off.

After arriving at the doctors' office Jackie filled out all the necessary paperwork, and then the couple waited patiently in the waiting room. Finally the nurse called her name. They waited in one of the exam room for a few minutes before the doctor came in.

"Hi, how have you been?" Her doctor asked.

"I've been good, but I think I'm pregnant."

"That's exciting, how about if we find out for sure?" Her doctor said with a smile.

"Sounds good to me." Jackie agreed eagerly.

First the doctor checked Jackie's blood pressure, and that was in the normal range.

"Ok lay back" her doctor instructed.

Jackie did and then her doctor did an ultrasound.

Nick held her hand.

She smiled "I'm nervous." She confessed.

"Don't be nervous" Nick said smiling as he gave her hand a squeeze.

"You are definitely pregnant." Dr. Johnson said.

A smile spread across both Nick and Jackie's face.

"Congratulations" the doctor said.

She said that the baby looked to be developing normally and she determined that Jackie was around 7 weeks along. After Jackie was set up on a prenatal vitamin regiment the couple left the doctors office thrilled.

While driving home Nick asked "Are you excited?"

"Yes, I am so excited" Jackie said.

"How about you?" She asked.

"Ecstatic" Nick said again breaking out into a smile.

The couple stopped at their favorite sandwich shop and had lunch and then they went and picked up Jasmine from Jackie's parents' house.

After picking her up they went to the park, that was Jasmine's favorite place to go, she loved being able to run around and she especially loved going down the slide.

After leaving the park the happy family went home and spent the rest of the day together. Nick and Jackie cherished the quiet times when it was just the three of them at home, and now they were even more special because the days of them being a family of three were numbered.

The End


End file.
